Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Date: February 3, 2008
Byline: Editorial

Editorial: Phila. Development

Beautiful and beastly

Chicago's Millennium Park, a $475 million recreational and entertainment masterpiece, is a beautiful example of what can happen when a city puts quality at the top of its agenda in making development decisions.

Parts of Philadelphia are just as beautiful. You can see its splendor driving along Benjamin Franklin Parkway, or Boathouse Row on Kelly Drive, or taking a stroll down the Avenue of the Arts.

But there's lots of ugly in Philadelphia, too: from billboards blighting the sides of too many buildings, to big-box stores taking up prime real estate on Columbus Boulevard, to numerous ill-placed parking lots in Center City.

It's as if the city has dual personalities. The underlying problem is that Philadelphia has allowed the excellent design principles it once applied to development to wither under the duress of expediency.

Too often what's built in Philadelphia is the product of deal-making, rather than the result of careful planning that adheres to design and zoning rules.

Past mayors and City Councils have preferred holding the power over development decisions, rather than risk having the city Planning Commission get in the way with regulation requirements.

As a result, the Planning Commission is a paper tiger, conveniently ignored, treated like a child when grown folks are talking business. Until this changes, who you know will continue to be the basis for many zoning and development decisions.

Various groups have pointed this out. Among them the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission, whose new report, "Promoting Civic Design Excellence in Philadelphia," offers observations and solutions.

With the report noting that real change must filter down from the top, it was good to see Mayor Nutter create a new deputy mayor for economic development position.

Nutter, in his first weeks on the job, has also named new members with credible backgrounds to both the Planning Commission and Zoning Board of Adjustment.

But these are just the first steps in a challenging process that must undo traditions that have no basis in law but are treated like gospel.

The Planning Commission recently began seeking community input on rewriting the comprehensive plan, which hasn't been updated in more than 40 years.

Here's some other ideas from DVRPC:

Return control of the city's capital program and budget to the Planning Commission.

Consolidate all of the city agencies making development decisions into one office.

Develop an advisory community roundtable to link planning and development efforts with neighborhood goals.

Such steps could help Nutter build his legacy as the mayor who returned Philadelphia to the front of American cities hailed for their beauty.